Tipping point How in-game spending will eat the games world

20,000 foot view:  Though parts of the games industry still stigmatize in-game purchases, the business model is a fundamental part of a successful and sustainable growth formula for games companies. The current macroeconomic climate will only catalyse their importance. Diving into the nuances of in-game spenders’ behaviours and attitudes unlocks significant growth and conversion optimization opportunities for games companies that are already in pursuit of this business model. For companies that have yet to embrace in-game spending, the time is now. Not just from the commercial point of view, but also for the sake of satisfying expectations of next-gen gamers in the mid to long-term.

Key insights

• Regular monthly            spending is still niche with            gamers doing so
• Ad hoc            spending is strong, with            of            gamers and            of PC gamers            spent money on in-game items            one month in            2022
• South Korea,            and US gamers are most            to engage in regular in-game            with UK gamers ranking last            of the nine markets in           
• In-game purchasing            grow as the next generation            gamers ages
• In-game purchasing            one of the least male-skewing            behaviours, providing further opportunities to            the gender gap in gaming           
• At            games            subscribers are more than five            as likely to regularly spend on            items than the gamer average           
• Gamers who            in games-related behaviours besides gameplay            viewing or live streaming) are            over-indexing on in-game purchasing
• While certain            genres (e.g., MOBA) are better            for in-game sales than others            puzzles), opportunities exist to drive            spending across all genres

• With changing            motivations to play games, in-game            games companies have a new            rationale to review their thinking            the matter

Companies and brands mentioned in this report:  Activision, Electronic Arts (EA), FIFA , Frontier, League of Legends , Madden NFL, Steam, Ubisoft